Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Away on holiday today! Red is off work and getting the car packed, chickens cleaned & fed etc (my sister will drop in on them while we are away but he’ll fill the feeders and waterer right up so they can go a couple of days before her visit). 

Bambi went to nursery today and I’m working from home, but Monkey claimed to feel sick when out on the school run with Red so Red let him stay home (he is 100% fine, running about like normal, eating fine etc so I think was just too excited about holiday. If I had been consulted I’d definitely have sent him to school but it was too late by the time I knew 🙄). 

We’ve spent about £230 on our Asda delivery (I know that sounds hideous for a 5 day holiday, but only about £140 was food, which includes feeding guests one night plus lots of meat for barbecues; there was about £60 of alcohol and £30 on disposable barbecues, sun cream, medication, batteries etc). And Red has topped the car up which was £50. It’s not an overly long drive away so that should do us the whole holiday. 

In terms of spending while away, we’ve agreed on one lunch out and one dinner out, we are hiring a boat for £95 for an afternoon and will take the kids swimming. Beyond that it’ll just be the odd amount at the amusements or for ice creams. 

Baileys_Babe

Enjoy your time away. Your plans sound good.

beanielou

Happy holiday 

Bluegreen143

Aaaaand we’re back! With many piles of washing to be done - lucky it’s so sunny today 😅

Holiday was LOVELY and relaxing. It’s the third time we’ve stayed in the same cabin. It just ticks so many boxes - stunning view, right on the beach, quiet and peaceful rather than a busy holiday park… but only a 10 min drive from the holiday park so we can use their pool and restaurant as needed 😁

Top highlights in no particular order:

1. Monkey caught a cod (we went out fishing on a hired boat for the afternoon). Huge excitement from all of us! 

2. This is the first year I’ve been brave enough to go in the loch in my wetsuit. It was FREEZING. But I went in several times and am very proud of myself 😅

3. My friend came to visit with her two children (good friends with my kids; the eldest goes to school and Beavers with Monkey and went to his nursery too - the youngest goes to the school nursery instead but is still very friendly with Bambi). It was fun having them there and good for me to have someone to have a dip with as Red wasn’t up for it 🤣

4. We saw seals, several times and once up close. Also loads of different birds. The kids enjoy checking out all the dead crabs and prising limpets off rocks to examine too. 

5. Not so much a highlight for us, but the kids loved going swimming. Must take them more at home! 

Costs

This is a money saving diary, so wouldn’t be complete without a financial breakdown. Feast your eyes below! Note, this doesn’t include money the kids and Red spend at the amusements and on little toys, as they all used their own pocket money. I didn’t use ANY of my allowance at all on the holiday because I don’t like souvenirs and hate the amusements 🤣

Accommodation £725

Travel £50

…….Petrol £50

Groceries & alcohol £235

……..Asda delivery (food) £140

……..Asda delivery (alcohol) £60

……..Asda delivery (household) £30

……..Top up shops £5

Eating out £117

……..Cafe lunch £26

……..Dinner out £83

……..Ice cream £8

Activities  £116

……..Boat hire £100

……..Swimming £12

……..Table tennis £4

Misc £9

………Armbands £9

TOTAL FOR 5 NIGHT HOLIDAY £1,252

Money well spent! I’d make a few changes next time, but not many - reflections below:

1. Dinner out was rubbish, and expensive. We just don’t really enjoy eating out unless the food is excellent. We’ve eaten there before and knew it wasn’t great so it’s a lesson learned not to do so again. We both agreed that if we want a night off cooking next time we’d be happier getting ready meals or pizzas to cook at home (the location is really rural and remote and there’s no fast food or anything within about an hour’s drive!). On the other hand, the local cafe food is really fresh and delicious, and the ice cream shop has really good quality yet cheap ice cream, so we don’t mind spending there. 

2. Activities spend was just right - we really enjoy the afternoon on the boat and swimming. As the kids get older, we could investigate further activities as between the holiday park and local providers you can do water sports, o climbing, archery etc. In general though we’re happy spending most of the time going for walks, playing at the beach and chilling out at home doing puzzles and crafts. Annoying we forgot Bambi’s armbands but not a huge expense. 

3. Groceries - next time I’d look to cater for every night, but tbh we over catered this time so I think the cost would work out similar anyway. We could save a bit on taking more food from home but I don’t have huge stocks of tins etc in at the moment. The grocery bill did include catering for vegan friends for 24 hours (two lunches, dinner, breakfast, prosecco & other drinks and treats for the kids. My friend brought some bits, but we provided most). 

4. Not a financial takeaway, but I must remember to streamline our packing list for our next holiday - for example, fewer pairs of shoes. The children only wear trainers and crocs on holiday, so didn’t need the nicer shoes, and the same is true of me! (I didn’t bring my crocs, which I regretted, but did take heavy walking boots and nicer shoes, neither of which got worn). 

The wetsuit shoes and wetsuits were good buys (Monkey was very brave at wading in up to his waist every day despite the cold) but the children didn’t bother using their dry robes so I don’t know that I’d buy them again once they’re outgrown. I love mine though! 

Next year holiday budget 

We had such a good time I’d like to increase our holiday budget a bit for next year - will look at how I can do that over the summer. It’s so worthwhile to spend on having relaxing family time and outdoor adventures.

themadvix

It sounds like you had a wonderful time and money well spent. The wildlife sounds brilliant - which I guess is why I love Scotland - just a bit far to pop up all the time!

Baileys_Babe

Sounds like you had a brilliant time. When we go away (UK) we take a bag of entertainment - books, pens and paper, pencil case, playing cards, board games, fold up kite, frisbee, boules... The last time we went away I took most of the board games out of their original boxes and packed them in drawstring bags and for most of our games you can download the rules 😉

Often when we are self-catering we use a combination of homemade meals (either made in advance and frozen or cooked fresh), ready meals usually from the more luxury ranges, and eating out. One holiday we mixed and matched meals from various meal deals from Waitrose and M&S  which was easy to cook and clean up from, we could fit it in to that day's plans, tasty, cheaper than eating out every night, and quicker too.

I like the fact you have reviewed your pack and have worked out some items you can omit, especially as this is a place you plan to visit regularly. Will these changes cover bad weather - cold, wet, hungry children make everyone's life a misery.

beanielou

Glad that you had a good time 

badmemory

I was wondering if a lot of restaurants have dumbed down their offerings.  I know that I have found over the last couple of years that eating out has become less & less of a pleasure, I'd also say the same about takeaways.  It could of course be that they are reducing the more expensive components so they don't need to increase the prices.  (How did I get into italics?)

MissRikkiC

I think this too @badmemory of take always. I wonder if the cost to buy things have gone up so much instead they have found cheaper alternatives or used less of things to keep the costs down hence the reduction in quality/taste/enjoyment. 

Bluegreen143

@badmemory that’s a really good point. We very very rarely get takeaways (so far I think we’ve had two this year) for this reason - they are inevitably disappointing! 

And I only need to look back over this diary to see we’ve been disappointed most of the time we’ve eaten out. 

I think the only time I’ve really really enjoyed a meal out recently was the date night Red and I went on in February. We spent nearly £120 on food and drink if I remember right! But it was a very fancy Japanese restaurant, I got cocktails, we got three courses of an expensive tasting menu and the food was amazing. Before that we hadn’t had dinner out as a couple since before Bambi was born so I felt OK with a blow out. 

My lovely friend has offered to have my kids for a sleepover on Saturday so we’re going to go out for dinner again(!). Going to do a bit of research and find somewhere with good food that we couldn’t/wouldn’t make at home. Probably not as expensive a restaurant as last time 😂 but even if we did that every four months it’s not too bad. We don’t usually take the children out to eat either, unless a relative is paying 🙈 so our restaurant and takeaway bill must be much lower than the average. 

Had a great afternoon today. My friend texted me at 3 to ask if I wanted to bring the kids over for a spontaneous after school paddling pool play date with a mutual friend and her children. Was lovely! 

Red made a delicious dinner - chorizo pasta - and we had such a nice time in the garden after dinner. I read the kids’ stories out there then we all played passing a ball to each other. Our kids are brilliant at amusing themselves but it was a good reminder to slow down and play with them occasionally! 

Just done my spending round up for last week, most of which I’ve shared already as was holiday spends, but for completeness I’ll share below. Note, I forgot about a £10 bottle of booze for the holiday so have adjusted the figure. 

WEEK FOUR SPENDING

Household £3

Kids: clothes £20
Hoody for Monkey and new pants for Bambi

Me: social £15.40
Ticket to a folk music thing I was going to with a friend , but it’s been postponed so not sure when it’ll be now 

Me: convenience £6
Lunch from the roll van at work 🙈 ok I suppose that counts as a takeaway…

Me: hobbies £17.43
Two kindle books

HOLIDAY
Petrol £51.32

Groceries £145.38

Household £30

Alcohol £69.56

Activities £115.50
Boat hire, swimming & table tennis

Eating out £116.45
Expensive but rubbish dinner, cheap but tasty cafe lunch, ice creams

Misc £9
Armbands for Bambi 

TOTAL £599.04